The Psychology of Emotion

21 830 405
Spring, 2013
Professor Kent Harber
Department of Psychology
Room 352, Smith Hall
(973) 353-2550
kharber@psychology.rutgers.edu
http://psychology.rutgers.edu/Users/kharber/index.html

Class Meets: Hill Hall, Room 108, Tues. and Thurs. from 11:30 to 12:50
Office Hours: Tuesdays, 2:00 4:00
Overview
What are our emotions? Where do they come from? What purpose do they serve? How do emotions relate to
our thoughts, memories, and opinions? Can we control our feelings or do they control us? Although people have
been asking these questions since antiquity only recently have experimental psychologists begun to explore this
vast and fascinating domain. This renewed interest has lead to a rush of research into emotions, moods, and
feeling states that covers everything from culture, development, reasoning, and social relations.
This course introduces students to the general range of issues related to the study of emotions. We will begin by
reviewing theories that concern the functions, mechanisms, and meanings of emotions--in other words the "what"
and the "why" of feeling states. Later we move on to the role of emotions in human development, in thinking and
memory, and in social interactions. Finally, we consider how people regulate moods, deal with overwhelming
emotions, and the nature of specific emotions such as love, hostility, fear, and disgust.
Course Format
This class will be challenging, and students are required to have completed Principles of Psychology (101 and
102) in order to enroll in the class. Students should be prepared to do a fair amount of reading (about 50-70
pages a week), and should be prepared to handle moderately advanced readings. Lectures will largely follow
class readings, although from time to time I will add material not in readings. Students are responsible for all
materials covered in lecture and in readings. Lectures tend to cover a lot of ground, so it is very important to
attend class and to keep up with class readings. Also, emotion is a topic ready-made for interesting discussion,
and I will encourage discussion during class. Again, keeping current with readings will be important for quality
discussion.

Readings
Required readings for this class include Oatley, K.,Keltner, D., & Jenkins, J. (2006) Understanding Emotions,
Second Edition. This is a very good text. It is both well written and, unlike other psychology texts, incorporates
philosophical and literary approaches that highlight and enrich empirical work--which constitutes the core of this
book. There is also a course reader (available at Affordable Copies, 49 Halsey Street, (973) 802-1007), which
contains classic and contemporary works on emotions and emotions research. The reader is an essential part of
the class and should be purchased along with the text.
Lecture Overheads
Class overheads will be posted on my Rutgers Web page. Students often find these overheads useful study
material. My Web page is at http://psychology.rutgers.edu/Users/kharber/index.html
Grading
Performance will be evaluated on the basis of a class exercise (15%) a mid-term (40%), and a final (45%).
Class Rules
Cell phones and pagers are off
No texting. Ever.
Drinks are OK, food is NOT OK
The class project is an individual assignmenttwo (or more) students supplying the same text is a major
problem.

Class Schedule
Jan. 22

Overview of class
Approaches to understanding emotions
O & J pp. 1-14; 17-25 (118, 22-28)
T. Jefferson, My Head and My Heart

Jan. 24

Evolution of Emotions
O & J Chapter 3, 33-55 (61-82)
Ekman, The Face of Man

Jan. 29

Culture and Emotions

O & J 57-79 (37-54)
Nisbett & Cohen: Culture of Honor

Jan. 31

Defining Emotion I
O & J 37-54 (95-114)
Fiske & Taylor, 450-461

Feb. 5

Defining Emotion II
O & J Chapter 4, 65-66 (115-130)

Feb. 7

VideoEmotional Development

Feb. 12

Development of EmotionsAttunement and Attachment

Stern, et al. Affect Attunement
Bowlby, Anger, Anxiety, and Attachment

Feb. 14

Development of EmotionsSocialization and Temperament

O & J 194-204; 211-223 (200-220)

Feb. 19

Physiology of Emotion I
O & J, 139-156 (133-151)
Goode, Schrof, & Burke, Where Emotions Come From

Feb. 21

Physiology of Emotion II
O & J 156-164 (152-158)
Sobel, The Wisdom of the Gut
3

Feb. 26

Emotions and Health

Salovey, et al., Emotional States and Physical Health

Feb. 28

Emotion, Learning, and Memory

Bower: Affect and Cognition
O & J 271-129 (267-277)

Mar. 5

Emotions and Reasoning

Salovey & Meyer, Emotional Intelligence
O & J 265-271 (258-266)
St. Exupery, Wind, Sand, and Stars
Harber, Self Esteem and Affect as Information

Mar. 7

Midterm Review

Mar. 12

Midterm

Mar. 14

Emotions and Social Judgment

O & J, 279-286 (277-283)
Schachter, Anxiety and Affiliation
Isen & Levin, Effect of Feeling Good on Helping
Forgas & Moylan, After the Movies: Transient Mood and Social Judgment

Mar. 16-24

SPRING BREAK

Mar. 26

Empathy
Batson, How social an animal? The human capacity for caring.
BEGIN EMOTION DIARY

Mar. 28

Positive Emotions
O & J, 72-74; (54-59)
O & J, 231-237; 239-240 (285-292)
Panksepp, The Riddle of Laughter

Apr. 2

Love and Passion

Baumeister & Bratsloavsky, Passion, Intimacy, and Time
Gelman, The Delusions of Love

Apr. 4

Anger and Hostility

O & J 237-239; 240-246; 249-252 (292-314)
Jones, et al. Stigma pp. 226-232

Apr. 9

Fear and Anxiety

Ohman, Fear and Anxiety: Evolutionary, Cognitive, and Clinical Perspectives

Apr. 11

Fear II and Disgust

Rozin & Fallon, A Perspective on Disgust

Apr. 16

Managing Emotions
Pennebaker, Opening Up
EMOTION DIARY LAST DAY
EMOTION DIARY ASSIGNMENT HANDED OUT

Apr. 18

NO CLASSHARBER AT CONFERENCE

Apr. 23

Traumatic Events
Pennebaker & Harber, A Three Stage Model of Collective Coping

Apr. 25

Emotional Broadcaster Theory

Harber & Cohen
EMOTION DIARY ASSIGNMENT DUE

Apr. 30

Emotions and Perception

Schnall, Harber, Stefanucci, & Proffitt, Social Support and the Perception of
Geographical Slant

May 2

Final Exam Review

FINAL EXAM DATE TO BE ANNOUNCED

Course Bibliography
TEXT
Oatley, K. & Jenkins, J. (2006). Understanding Emotions, Second Edition. Malden, MA: Blackwell
READINGS
Batson, C.D. (1990). How social an animal? The human capacity for caring. American Psychologist, 45, 336346.
Baumeister, R.F. & Bratslavsky, E. (1999). Passion, intimacy, and time: Passionate love as a function of change
in intimacy. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 3, 49-67.
Bower, G.H. (1983). Affect and cognition. Philosophical Transcripts of the Royal Society of London, 387-402.
Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and loss, separation and anxiety.
Brody, L.R. & Hall, J.A. (2000). Gender, emotion, and expression. In M. Lewis and A. Haviland-Jones (Eds.) The
handbook of emotions. New York: Guilford.
Ekman, P. (1980). The face of man. pp. 3-10, 123-138.
Fiske, S.T. & Taylor, S.E. (1991). Social cognition. Chapter 10, pp. 450-461. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Forgas, J.P. & Moylan, S. (1987). After the movies: Transient mood and social judgments. Personality and
Social Psychology Bulletin, 13, 467-477.
Gelman, D. (1989). The delusions of love. Newsweek, Dec. 4.
Goode, E., Schrof, J.M., & Burke, S. (1991). Where emotions come from. U.S. News and World Report, June 24.
Harber, K.D. (2005). Self esteem and affect as information. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 276288.
Harber, K.D. and Cohen, D. (2005). The emotional broadcaster theory of social sharing. Journal of Language and
Social Psychology, 24, 382-400.
Isen, A. M. & Levin, P.F. (1972). Effect of feeling good on helping: Cookies and kindness. Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology, 21, 384-388.
Jefferson, T. (1786/1974). My head and my heart. In F.M. Brodie, Thomas Jefferson, an intimate history.
Jones, E.E., Farina, A., Hastorf, A.H., Markus, H., Miller, D.T., and Scott, R.A. (1984). Social stigma: The
psychology of marked relationships, pp. 226-232. New York: W.H. Freeman.

Lewis, M. Self-conscious emotions: Embarrassment, pride, shame, and guilt. In M. Lewis and A. Haviland-Jones
(Eds.) The handbook of emotions. New York: Guilford.
Nisbett, R.E. & Cohen, D. (1996). Culture of honor: The psychology of violence in the South. Chapter 4: Insult,
anger, and aggression, pp.41-55. Boulder, CO: Westview.
Ohman, A. Fear and anxiety: Evolutionary, cognitive, and clinical perspectives. In M. Lewis and A. HavilandJones (Eds.) The handbook of emotions. New York: Guilford.
Panksepp, J. (2000). The riddle of laughter: Neural and psychoevolutionary underpinnings of joy. Current
Directions in Psychological Science, 9, 183-186.
Pennebaker, J.W. (1990). Opening up: The healing power of confiding in others. Chapters 1, 2, and 3. New
York: Morrow.
Pennebaker, J.W. & Harber, K.D. (1993). A social stage model of collective coping: The Loma Prieta Earthquake
and the Persian Gulf War. Journal of Social Issues, 49, 125-145.
Rozin, P. & Fallon, A.E. (1987). A perspective on disgust. Psychological Review, 94, 23-41.
Salovey, P. and Mayer, J.D. (1990). Emotional intelligence. Imagination, cognition, and personality, 9, 185-211.
Salovey, P., Rothman, A.J., Detweiler, J.B., & Steward, W.T. (2000). Emotional states and physical health.
American Psychologist, 55, 110-121.
Schachter, S. (1959). The psychology of affiliation. Chapters 2, 3, & 4.
Schnall, S., Harber, K.D. Stefanucci, J., & Proffitt, D. (2008). Social support and the perception of geographical
slant. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44, 1426-1255.
Sobel, R.K. (2000). The wisdom of the gut. U.S. News and World Report, April 3, 50-51.
Stern, D.N., Hofer, L., Haft, W., & Dore, J. (1985). Affect attunement: The sharing of feeling states between
mother and infant by means of inter-modal fluency. In T. Field and N. Fox (Eds.) Social perception in
infants.